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A woman with pale white skin and her blond hair covered by a wide veil is shown from the waist up in this vertical portrait painting. Her folded hands rest on the lower edge of the panel, suggesting that she sits just on the other side, close to us. The transparent white veil covers her blond hair and falls in stiff, wide panes down in front of her shoulders. Her hair is pulled back behind a black ribbon over a high forehead. Her light brown eyes are downcast and she has a straight nose and full, pale pink lips. Her chest is covered by another veil and is tucked into the deep V-neck of her long-sleeved, black dress. A wide scarlet-red belt adorned with an ornately filigreed gold belt buckle encircles her narrow waist. Her skin, white veils, and red belt contrast sharply with her velvety black dress and the dark pine green of the background.

Rogier van der Weyden

Portrait of a Lady, c. 1460

West Building, Main Floor - Gallery 39

Medium

oil on panel

Dimensions

painted surface: 34 x 25.5 cm (13 3/8 x 10 1/16 in.)
overall (panel): 37 x 27 cm (14 9/16 x 10 5/8 in.)

framed: 60.9 x 53.3 x 11.4 cm (24 x 21 x 4 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Andrew W. Mellon Collection

Accession Number

1937.1.44

Artists / Makers

Rogier van der Weyden (artist) Netherlandish, 1399/1400 - 1464

Image Use

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Overview

This painting is an outstanding example of the abstract elegance characteristic of Rogier's late portraits. Although the identity of the sitter is unknown, her air of self–conscious dignity suggests that she is a member of the nobility. Her costume and severely plucked eyebrows and hairline are typical of those favored by highly placed ladies of the Burgundian court.

The stylish costume does not distract attention from the sitter. The dress, with its dark bands of fur, almost merges with the background. The spreading headdress frames and focuses attention upon her face. Light falls with exquisite beauty along the creases of the sheer veiling over her head, and gentle shadows mark her fine bone structure. In contrast to the spareness of execution in most of the painting, the gold filigree of her belt buckle is rendered with meticulous precision. The scarlet belt serves as a foil to set off her delicately clasped hands.

Rogier excelled as a portrait painter because he so vividly presented the character of the persons he portrayed. The downcast eyes, the firmly set lips, and the tense fingers reflect this woman's mental concentration. Rogier juxtaposed the strong sensation of the sitter's acute mental activity to his rigid control of the composition and the formality of her costume and pose, presenting the viewer with an image of passionate austerity.

More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication Early Netherlandish Painting, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/early-netherlandish-painting.pdf

Provenance

Probably Leopold Friedrich Franz, Prince of Anhalt [d. 1817], Gotisches Haus, Wörlitz, near Dessau.[1] Probably Leopold Friedrich, Prince of Anhalt [d. 1871]; Friedrich I, Duke of Anhalt [d. 1904];[2] Friedrich II, Duke of Anhalt, Gotisches Haus, Wörlitz, and Herzogliches Schloss, Dessau; sold 1925 through (Bachstitz Gallery, The Hague) to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[3] purchased December 1926 by Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded 30 March 1932 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA.

[1] For the activity of this prince as a collector, see C. Rost, "Der alte Nassau-Oranische Bilderschatz und sein späterer Verbleib," Jahrbücher für Kunstwissenschaft 6 (1873), 52-93. The numerous portraits in the Anhalt collection are not very precisely described in the early catalogues. However, Lorne Campbell has suggested that 1937.1.44 may be identical with no. 1318, "Dirk Bouts(?), Weibliches Porträt in schwarzer Kleidung mit rothem Gürtel," in the bedroom of Duke Franz in the Gotisches Haus; Wilhelm Hosäus, Wörlitz. Ein Handbuch für die Besucher des Wörlitzer Gartens und die Wörlitzer Kunstammlungen, 2d ed. (Dessau, 1883), 40.

[2] Bruges, Hôtel de Gouvernement Provincial, 1902, Exposition des primitifs flamands et d'art ancien, no. 108, lists the Duke as the current owner.

[3] Duveen Brothers Records, Files Regarding Works of Art, Box 302, folders 7-8, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.

Associated Names

Anhalt, Friedrich I, Duke of
Anhalt, Friedrich II, Duke of
Anhalt, Leopold Friedrich Franz, Prince of
Anhalt, Leopold Friedrich, Prince of
Bachstitz Gallery
Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, The A.W.
Mellon, Andrew W.

Exhibition History

1902: Exposition des primitifs flamands et d'art ancien, Hôtel de Gouvernement Provincial, Bruges, 1902, no. 108.

1927: Flemish and Belgian Art 1300-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1927, no. 33.

1929: Loan Exhibition of Flemish Primitives, F. Kleinberger Galleries, New York, 1929, no. 8.

2001: Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo's 'Ginevra de' Benci' and Renaissance Portraits of Women, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2001-2002, no. 13, color repro.

Technical Summary

The panel is composed of a single board with vertical grain. There is an unpainted margin on all sides of the panel and a slight barbe at the edge of the painted surface. Incised lines at the edge of the painted surface were probably guidelines for the application of the ground. The painting is in excellent condition. It was cleaned about the time it left the Anhalt collection[1] and received a surface cleaning in 1980. There is a fine overall crackle pattern and some inpainting along the crackle. A few small, local losses on the lady's veil and kerchief, on her proper right sleeve, and to the left of her ear have been inpainted. There is some abrasion in the ear.

No underdrawing was made visible by infrared reflectography apart from a single stroke within the fur collar and parallel to its edge on the right side and another horizontal stroke in the little finger of the top hand. The lady's silhouette was originally even more slender than at present, since the thickly applied paint of the background extends into the area of the belt on either side. This change is visible in raking light, while the extreme slenderness of the original silhouette is evident in the x-radiograph.

[1] According to a note on Friedläat;nder's photograph of the painting, III.1926/Gereinigt Duveen Mellon," in Friedlander archive, R.K.D., The Hague.

Bibliography

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